Archive for the ‘Cocktail’ Category

Swift Single Malt Texas Whiskey captures authentic Scottish whisky making traditions and brings them home to Texas. At their distillery in Dripping Springs, Texas, Amanda and Nick Swift use 100% Scottish malted barley twice distilled in copper post stills. Their newest expression is a Non-Chilled Filtered spirit aged in Kentucky Bourbon barrels and finished in French Sauternes Casks. The resulting whiskey is rich and elegant

with hints of spiced vanilla, lemon curd, honeysuckle, and buttery caramel. Come by the Courtyard Bar and enjoy a dram of this new Texas made star.

Amaretto Di Saronno, now known as Disaronno Originale, has been delighting cocktail connoisseurs for 490 years. For the first time since the Italian liqueur was created in 1525, the company has introduced a new expression of Disaronno.

Riserva is a combination of the essence of Disaronno & blended Scotch whisky. It has been aged in vintage Sicilian wine barrels & registers in at 80 Proof with a spicy sweetness & a light vanilla-almond flavor.

Just 10,000 bottles of Disaronno Riserva have been produced & Brennan’s of Houston has one.

Snow Leopard vodka was founded by Stephen Sparrow with the aim to raise awareness of the snow leopard’s plight. 15% of it’s profits go to conservation projects of the Snow Leopard’s habitat in Mongolia, China, India and Kyrgyzstan.

Handcrafted and distilled six times in small batches in Poland from the finest spelt grains. Spelt grain imparts a nutty flavor to the end product and is grown without the use of pesticides or fertilizers. The vodka is a favorite of Princes William, Prince Harry, Vivienne Westwood and Stella MacCartney. Try it on the rocks or in one of our featured cocktails at The Courtyard Bar.

George Orwell, famed author of 1984 & Animal Farm fame, once said that getting to the Isle of Jura was “extremely urget-at-able.” During Orwell’s stay on Jura, he wrote 1984 introducing the world to the ominous specter of “Big Brother is watching.”

The expression is a 1984 vintage single malt whisky that been matured for 20 years in American oak ex-bourbon barrels. It is then finished in Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Sherry Amoroso & Apostoles Oloroso Sherry butts.

When the weather is hot, adding a some bubbles in your cocktail is a sure way to lighten up any drink. For our June Spirit Roundtable, Richard Middleton and Ronnie Stidvent showcased a few. Make some or all this summer and let us know how you like it. Enjoy!

As the new year approaches, we can’t help reflect back on when Ferrel Dugas visited us from Commander’s Palace and made a St. 75 for our Passport to Cocktails event. If you don’t want to do straight bubbles as you’re ringing in the new year, this Champagne Cocktail is a definite must!

St. 75

The St. 75 is a playful twist on the Classic French 75.

RECIPE:

1 oz. Tanqueray

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 oz. basil infused simple syrup

1 oz. St. Gremain

Champagne or Cava (your favorite)

Fresh basil leaves

METHOD:

Pour Tanqueray, lemon juice, simple syrup and St. Germain into a shaker. Shake and strain into a flute or coupe glass. Top off with Champagne and garnish with a fresh basil leaf.

Is Monday too early to start thinking about what we’ll be eating and drinking next weekend? We think not. We have the decadent Southern cocktail milk punch on our minds. Here, nine amazing milk punches around the country to sip next Sunday morning (and evening). And if you aren’t close to any of these spots, make milk punch at home using our recipes for classic rum and bourbon versions.

3.Off-Menu Milk Punch at Brennan’s of Houston.
One of the restaurant’s most popular cocktails isn’t even on the menu; in-the-know drinkers request the classic cocktail, made with milk, brandy, sugar, vanilla extract and a dusting of freshly ground nutmeg.

Double Cross Vodka is produced in Stara Lubovna in the Tatra Mountains of Northeastern Slovakia by Master Distiller Jan Krak. It is a superior product made from local estate grown winter wheat & aquifer water 200′ deep. Distilled 7 times and filtered 7 times via a proprietary filtration system, Double Cross Vodka has won accolades from every source in the spirits review sector. A very special vodka!

Crawfish Reigns Supreme on Brennan’s 7-7-7 Happy Hour Menu

Brennan’s of Houston may not come up in conversation as a go-to place for happy hour, but it should. During happy hour, which takes place in their Courtyard Bar, Brennan’s offers a 7-7-7 menu that includes seven cocktails, seven wines, and seven appetizers, all for just $7.

And the great thing about it? Unlike other restaurants where happy hour only happens during odd hours and only on weekdays, Brennan’s 7-7-7 is offered daily from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. — plenty of time for you to relax, unwind, and get happy.

The bar area is well appointed with attractive chairs

Three of my friends and I stopped in on a random Friday evening around 5 p.m., and were greeted enthusiastically when we arrived. Right inside the door, Brennan’s famous house-made butterscotch pralines were piled up on a plate to welcome us as well.

The bar area was lightly occupied at that time, so we got our pick of where to sit, choosing a four-top table by the window, where we started off with cocktails, including a Tom Collins, made of Segram’s gin, club soda, and fresh lemon and lime; a Deep Eddy Daly made of Deep Eddy Sweet Tea and lemonade; and a Smoky Mary, the Brennan’s version of bloody Mary made with smoked Poblano pepper infused Svedka vodka.

For food, we literally tried everything on the menu. I’m told the menu changes seasonally, but right now, all the happy hour offerings are crawfish themed, which means we had Crawfish Remoulade, BBQ Crawfish, Crawfish and Andouille Empanadas, Crawfish Boudin, Crawfish and Corn Fritters, Crawfish Enchilada, and Crawfish and Tasso Waffles.

Yep, that’s a waffle underneath all that crawfish

When they came out, the tapas-sized portions were all delicious, though some stood out more than others. My favorite out of all of them was the Crawfish enchilada, which I ordered a second order of because I didn’t feel like one shared bite was enough.

The Crawfish and Corn Fritters were fun and lighthearted, crispy fried balls pierced with skewers and served a dark piri piri sauce. My friends quite enjoyed the rich Crawfish and Tasso Waffles, which were full of flavor due to the sweet sugarcane smoked tasso. The Crawfish Boudin was also a hit, and went surprisingly well with the kimchi and crackers that it came with.

If you love boudin, you’ll love this crawfish and andoille version

We ordered a second round of drinks while feasting on the huge, well-priced spread, but saved room for dessert, which is one of those things you just have to save room for if you go to Brennan’s.

The chef decided to show us what their dessert was all about and brought out a sampling of some of their desserts: strawberry shortcake, pecan pie, two types of bread pudding, chocolate mousse cake, and key lime pie. My girlfriend’s eyes grew as big as saucers and she had to hold her hands underneath her legs while I took pictures. “Can I eat yet?” she asked impatiently before starting to do some heavy damage to the spread before us.

The dessert spread. Worth. Every. Calorie!

That was before a smiling server wheeled a cart over to our table and started preparing bananas foster table-side. The smell and the sizzle of the dessert was almost my undoing as we watched him perform an elaborate, fire-enhanced culinary mini-show . Talk about decadent. And mouthwatering. And absolutely positively unbelievably amazing!